Devastating Days of Our Lives Tragedy Shakes Salem to Its Core — And the Shocking Return Fans Won’t See Coming!

Credit: Jill Johnson/JPI (4)

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The show, as they say, must go on. And while we’re reeling from Drake Hogestyn’s passing, that’s exactly what Days of Our Lives is doing — and it’s what he’d want it to do. So let’s get dive into it all: The good, the bad… and the Body and Soul.

I want to start out by taking a moment to talk a bit about Hogestyn. I know Days of Our Lives has been through a lot over the past year and a half, and he’s the third big name we’ve lost recently. But as much as we all loved Bill Hayes and John Aniston and were heartbroken by their deaths, their passing wasn’t a real surprise. We knew both actors were older and had cut back their screen time considerably in recent years.

John, though, was in the thick of things right up until the end. Yes, we all saw him looking thinner after he returned from that Greece trip, but none of us ever would have imagined we’d lose him. I guess we should all be grateful every day for what and who we have in our lives. I know it hit me hard. I only met and interviewed Hogestyn once in person, but it’s one of the more fun, easygoing and amusing interactions I had with any actor, and I’ll always remember it.

This, though, is when the show’s shooting schedule really gets frustrating. There’s no need for Days to rush their goodbye, especially with the cast and crew still dealing with losing Hogestyn. But having to wait at least eight months to say farewell onscreen is just maddening. We haven’t even gotten to Doug’s passing yet and Hayes died back in January.

Another problem I had this week was Monday and Tuesday’s episodes. Imagine being a longtime Days of Our Lives fan who hadn’t watched in a while and just heard the news about Hogestyn’s passing. Maybe you tuned in for the first time in ages on Monday or Tuesday to see what’s happening and in the hopes of seeing John before he’s gone (which, sadly, happened almost a month ago). Instead of Days of Our Lives, you got entire Body and Soul centered episodes and maybe thought, “Nah, I’m not going to get back into this.”

Wednesday’s episode would have been so much better to have aired Monday. It had an imprisoned Brady grappling with the news of Sarah’s lie while Kristen vowed to free him — and even talking to her dead father about how John was always his arch nemesis, but she can’t stop loving his son. Then there was Fiona and Sarah’s emotional talk (with all the undercurrents of Fiona paralyzing her daughter in law), Holly and Sophia’s fight, and Xander and Eric’s showdown at Titan. It would have paid homage to John, intrigued viewers who haven’t been watching and given them a reason to tune back in. Instead… Bonnie Hattie got fired.

Rewrites and New Directions

Along those lines, I think we’re already getting to see how the show’s reshaping without John. I like how Eric has managed to make enemies of both the DiMeras and the Kiriakises, with EJ and Xander despising him. EJ, for running off with Nicole, and Xander, for trying to save Brady.

But I don’t think this is what was supposed to happen. The show’s official fall preview teased that John was going to figure out what happened with Brady. But with Hogestyn’s illness and passing, it seems Greg Vaughan stepped in for Eric to fill that role. As Eric Martsolf shared earlier this week, they didn’t know that Hogestyn’s last scene as John was going to be welcoming Brady home. Everybody hoped he’d be back, but sadly, he just wasn’t, and the story likely had to be rewritten around him.

And that’s where Eric comes in. Bringing him back so soon after sending him away did seem odd, but now that they have, they’ve really put him in a prime dramatic position, between two powerful, vengeful, rich families. It kind of makes me wish they’d keep going in this direction and finally make him interesting enough to stick around. Eric’s not the obvious successor to John’s legacy and, to be clear, no one will ever take his place, but Eric could fill a similar role and start getting into trouble and clashing with the bad guys. Well, the bad-ish guys. Heck they were both priests who exorcized Marlena, so why not?

But they can’t bring him back full time, unless they shatter the happy ending he and Nicole got and break them up. And in the end, I don’t see Nicole ever returning — at least not unless they recast her after Arianne Zucker’s lawsuit. (Then again, Tony seemed gone for good, too, and Thaao Penghlis is coming back along with a ton of faves next year.) It’s like I mentioned at the beginning. Days has been through so much in the past couple years, and I think we’re only just starting to see how it’s reshaping the show.

Dazed and Confused

OK, so the Greenes’ parents are supposed to be dead, but Clyde claims to be holding their mother hostage. And the kids only think it’s them and Mark — so where does “Abigail” with no real name fit in? Do they not know they have a sister?

I know they supposedly didn’t recognize her with Mark because she had plastic surgery, but where has she been that they didn’t even mention her as being either a part of their family or someone they lost? Felicity and Aaron were all, “It’s just us and Mark with mom and dad gone.”

I feel like I’m in the middle of that scene in Clue where they all wonder why Mr. Boddy was dragged into the bathroom after being murdered a second time. Tim Curry’s response was, “To create confusion!” And I’m very much Mrs. Peacock right now: “It worked!” Because I’m so confused. But I’m not sure if they’re intentionally trying to create confusion and we’ll find out why eventually or it’s just a convoluted tale.

Also, Mark and sis believe Clyde actually has their mom, even though he’s having them con Chad with a fake Abigail? Please. He’s gonna hand them back a total stranger and claim she had plastic surgery and amnesia after the car accident. “Here’s mommie!”

Stray Thoughts…

• Now Kayla’s even being pulled into Body and Soul? Just give us a deadly outbreak of something instead, if Days wants to give her something to do.
• Um, Holly, why were you so shocked at Tate declaring your relationship over when all you’ve done is push him away?
• On that note, Sophia and Holly going at it over Tate is a pretty tried and true soap formula… but can’t anyone have non-backstabbing friends? (At least we’ve got Abigail and Jada.)
• I could listen to Rafe call EJ a “stupid son of a bitch” on repeat.